The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said Saturday that it hit two Russian Su-27 fighters at the Belbek airfield in occupied Crimea.
It said one of the jets was fully loaded and was preparing for takeoff.
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“One of the planes was on the taxiway with full ammunition and was ready for a combat sortie. It was destroyed,” its press release says. It did not specify the date and time of the attack.
The Su-27 (NATO reporting name: Flanker) is a fourth-generation Russian long-range air superiority fighter introduced in 1985. It is designed for high maneuverability and combat dominance, famous for being able to pull off the cobra maneuver – a dramatic aerobatic move where the aircraft suddenly raises its nose to near-vertical while maintaining forward momentum before returning to level flight.
The SBU said the operation was carried out by its Alpha Special Operations Center using unspecified models of “long-range drones,” adding that the airfield’s control tower was also damaged.
Ukraine’s General Staff also confirmed that a Russian RSP-6M2 radar, used to regulate aircraft traffic, was struck at the Kirovskoye Airfield in occupied Crimea overnight.
The SBU said the latest attacks on the Su-27s followed another successful attack in recent days.
“This is the second successful SBU attack on the Belbek airfield in recent days. On Dec. 18, the service’s drones hit hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Russian equipment at this airfield: two Nebo-SVU radars, a 92N6 radar from the S-400 Triumph air defense system, a Pantsir-S2 air defense system, and a MiG-31 aircraft with full ammunition,” the press release says.
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The SBU said the two Su-27s amount to “about $70 million.”